I mean a legit business that makes the world a better place. I mean starting something that serves a deep need in a compelling way.

That is how you really get rich.

The Right Business

That will get you started in the right direction, but if you’re going to be making bucks while you’re bombing down the slopes you can’t start just any business. It’s got to be crafted specially for this purpose.

Early retiree, entrepreneur, and author MJ DeMarco teaches you exactly how to craft a business to get you into what he calls the “fastlane” in his book The Millionaire Fastlane.

The five commandments of fast-lane businesses

1. Need: I don’t care what your passionate about. If it doesn’t serve a need of other people it’s not going to put food on the table. According to DeMarco this is one of the most often overlooked aspects of starting a business.

Can you make money following your passions? Almost certainly, but your idea could probably use some real-world research and refining before you discover the best way to use it to serve others.

“Never start a business to make money. Stop chasing money and start chasing needs.” – @MJDeMarco#FastLane

2. Entry: Think of it like this: The easier it is for someone to start a business doing what you’re doing, the less likely you’re going to knock it out of the park. Starting your business shouldn’t consist of filling out some forms or ordering a distributers kit. If it does, there’s guaranteed to be hundreds or thousands of other “businesses” out there that look just like yours.

3. Control: If you really want to be in the fast-lane you need to have complete control over your business. If you’re in the affiliate sales business you don’t have control. Your affiliate could change or end the program at any time. If you’re making money off search traffic clicking on your advertisements you’re not in control. One quick change to Google’s search algorithm and your income dried up! Not cool! (happens all the time by the way) If you’re running a franchise you’re not in control. Your brand, methods, and entire business are subject to the franchisers business.

“Fastlaners control their brands, their properties, and their financial plans.” – MJ DeMarco

4. Scale: If you want that epic house in the mountains you’re going to have to move a lot of product. I mean a lot, which means you’re going to have to be operating at scale.

Here’s an example to illustrate: Let’s say you open a CrossFit gym. Awesome! You’re adding new members every month, adding new classes, and pretty soon you’re going to be raking in some good money.

But there’s a ceiling. You can only fit so many people in a class. You can only fit so many classes in a day. If 10,000 people show up and want you to coach them there’s no way you could ever accommodate them.

Suppose your gym delivered digital classes online though? Then how many people could you serve? A heck of a lot more right? You could be teaching classes of 10,000 every day! That is scale. Want more money? Work more hours! That’s not going to make you any bucks while you’re enjoying a powder day on the slopes.

5. Time: If you’re trading your time for money you’re not in the fast-lane. If you’re a coach and you only get paid for working with clients you’re violating this commandment. If you’re an independent contractor you’re literally billing your hours worked – not fastlane.

This is my favorite commandment because it’s most closely tied with building a Life Stoked. Think about it – earning money independent of your time. What could you do? Where would you go? (this is my ultimate dream by the way)

“A business attached to your time is a job” – MJ DeMarco

Putting it to use

I see people every day who violate these commandments. I have a friend who just quit his job to follow his dream. Unfortunately his dream has him working late nights filling orders in his garage to meet deadlines. He may be self-employed, but no matter how successful his small business is it’s going to be a j-o-b until he crafts it to follow these five commandments.

What about you? I know you’ve got a business idea up your sleeve. Does it follow these five commandments? How could you re-envision it so that it does?

My favorite is #5 too, but I like your thoughts around #4 about the crossfit example- it connects nicely with #1 the need. My time at my current job is so over-stressed and abused to the point I don’t like to get on facebook when I get home- that’s bad. I don’t think I’ve been on facebook for almost 2 weeks because my 3 letter *** (j-o-b) consumes so much of my time that I’m just exhausted. Time is an overlooked, under appreciated, richly valuable commodity, so learning how to hone it into the fast lane is a need I’m definitely interested in. Thanks for this post Deacon, you’re keeping my right and left brain thinking about where I want to go.

You’re right about time being the most valuable commodity! There was a great section in that book that talked about how people executing at different levels view time. In a nutshell it was all about putting your efforts towards leveraging TIME instead of leveraging money like most people do.

I’m certainly not there yet, but knowing how I ultimately want my biz and my life to look helps me always be moving in the right direction.

As for the j-o-b, I know what a killer a job like that can be! I HIGHLY recommend the book 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. I used it to find my (awesome) job I have now.

In fact, I loved it so much I’m teaching a 48-days workshop to go through the process with a group this spring. Lots of work, but well worth it 😉

hah, sorry bro! There’s so much meat in that book I’m sure you could easily write one that was completely different. It was hard deciding what to pull out. I really enjoyed it as a web-startup guy and I bet you have some insights from the real estate side.

All in all I really loved the book. It said a lot of things I’d been thinking in the back of my mind, but no one else had spelled it out (like how you don’t make serious bucks in the slow lane!).

Anonymous

Deacon really did it all 😀

Anonymous

Very challenging post here. I must admit that all the five commandments are powerful. Who will not want to live independently and make some great money? I agree that if your time determines your earnings then you have a limit to how much you can earn.

I’ve been thinking about these 5 points from DeMarco. They’re a great checklist of qualities necessary to have a biz that can explode, but they aren’t all required just to get paid well independent of your time. Things I’m continually thinking about…

Card counting as a business doesn’t follow the cents concept as well, but it still works. Control: You control your bets and how you play the hand. Unfortunately, the casino can remove the welcome mat if you’re caught/suspected of counting. Entry: Card counting requires a high level of discipline and a bankroll of at least $1,000 to get started at low stakes (albeit undercapitalized). This significantly reduces the number of blackjack players who succeed. Need: Card counting serves no need except the desire to make money. Casinos need players to make profit, so card counters provide the illusion of supplying that need, appearing as another sucker. Time: Card counting requires you to physically be in smoky casinos. The more you play, the more profits/casino heat you generate. The less you play, the less profit you earn, but you are less likely to get caught. The mail in comps casinos provide also require time to utilize. Scale: The scale of card counting is limited by the need to control your bet spread (no jumping from minimum to maximum) and one more thing. The more you bet, the more you win, but you also get the casino’s attention. Out of all these concepts, the ENTRY part is card counting’s biggest strength in the cents concept.